Westerville City Schools secondary
music curriculum coordinator Todd Stoll soon will leave for the bright lights
of New York City. Stoll, who has worked for the district for nearly 20 years,
has been named director of jazz education for the Lincoln Center.
"It's kind of a big move for
me," he said. "It's a huge honor. It's the largest jazz organization
like it in the world, with the largest pulpit for spreading understanding for
not just jazz education but American cultural education."
Stoll began his career with
Westerville City Schools in 1993, joining the district as choir director. When
jazz band became a part of the district's curriculum three years later, he also
began to teach those classes. In 2003, Stoll became an assistant band director,
while still working with the jazz band and teaching some choir.
He took over his current post in
administration in 2005. At the same time he was working with young musicians in
the Westerville schools, Stoll also helped found the Columbus Youth Jazz
Orchestra.
That group began as a program through
the Columbus Department of Recreation and Parks and later was absorbed by the
Jazz Arts Group of Columbus, under which it grew to have three different
performance groups.
The Youth Jazz Orchestra attracts
young musicians from across Ohio and has traveled internationally to perform. "It's
the cream of the crop for high school musicians who are into jazz," Stoll
said.
Stoll has done some consulting work
for the Lincoln Center and was recruited to his new position by Wynton
Marsalis, artistic director for jazz at the center.
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